‘Nuss fuss’ probe to end as it began — in discord

It looks like partisan differences will prevail to the end of a special Kansas House panel’s investigation of the “Nuss fuss,” which is now expected to conclude later this month with release of both a majority report and a minority report. In one corner we have Republicans, still suspicious that contact between Kansas Supreme Court Justice Lawton Nuss and two state senators influenced legislative voting on school finance. In the other corner are Democrats such as Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita, who said this week: “There has been no evidence any legislator was influenced.” If this whole process has a point, it had better show up in the dueling final reports.
Posted by Rhonda Holman

5 Comments

  1. turner
    Posted October 6, 2006 at 8:47 am | Permalink

    I wonder if Jim Ward would be okay with a trial judge having lunch with someone involved in a criminal case. You know, just to talk over things with the prosocuter for example. See how things are going, what their position is. No problem.

  2. sotheysaid
    Posted October 6, 2006 at 8:53 am | Permalink

    Good point Turner. The point that is being over looked is that a Supreme Court Judge was reviewing information that had not been presented to the court. A judge is not supposed to allow evidence to be considered unless it was presented during the trial.

    Would we want juries to ask for addition information during their deliberations if it had not been presented during trial? What about the information a judge instructs a jury to ignore during the hearing?

    Nuss went over the top. He has now tainted the Supreme Court Judges to a point where their opinions will mean nothing.

  3. Vaughn Tolle
    Posted October 6, 2006 at 10:57 am | Permalink

    Justice Nuss should not have had lunch with the Senator. No question.

    However, prior to that luncheon, the Kansas Supreme Court had already issued its opinion that the existing school finance law was unconstitutional. It had retained jurisdiction over the case to fashion a suitable remedy, should the Legislature fail to do so. While one may not like the actions of the Legistlature in fashioning its remedy, approved by the Court, the fact remains that the luncheon meeting occurred after the critical opinion, finding the existing law unconstitutional.

  4. The Truthiness
    Posted October 6, 2006 at 4:21 pm | Permalink

    Some relevant facts:

    Nuss recused himself from the caseNuss was wrist slapped by Judicial Review

    It never should have happened, but nothing other than what we know already has come from the hearings, other than a Rep. House member (Kinser) calling the President of the Senate a liar

  5. opporpLiero
    Posted January 7, 2008 at 2:31 pm | Permalink

    lok it plz
    masterfully